This is technique only!
IMPROVED
-- Miyeon: Better breath support! FINALLY! I think she has been taking some sort of endurance classes/dance because not only her stamina and stage presence improved, but now her breath support has gotten better. Yuqi was initially the member with the best technique in Gidle but Miyeon has perhaps surpassed her now. (If any of you watch Sam Bradley, remember he's not a trained vocal trainer or coach)
TIER: W-A
(Okay these next two are crazy good)
-- Taeyeon: I was not expecting her to improve much more but she's been constantly working and improving from her debut to now. The One and her seriously have such a great foundation in singing. Quite proud of her to be honest.
TIER: P
-- Bestie's Uji: One of the most underrated singers in kpop. She has a youtube and she's been uploading some amazing covers and I'm amazed by the quality.
TIER: P
-- Lightsum's Nayoung: She was pretty bad in Produce48 with her proper fundamentals so I thought Chowon would be a better singer but she's managed to surpass all my expectations. Her introduction videos showed she had nice fundamentals, and while she's had some weaker moments, her support is stronger than Chowon's and actually all of CLC. I'm making her my Lightsum bias, I love Chowon too but I want to see people recognizing her for her vocals!
TIER: LOW A
REGRESSED
Now I can't say for sure if they have regressed yet but I am not liking what I'm hearing
-- Wheein: This is shocking I know but she hasn't had as much of a proper grasp on D5s recently. I don't know what is happening, it is possible she's really tired or she's going stylistic so she can make a sound people like more for her songs, but it's not up to her usual par, and Solar has shown better sounds recently. I honestly think she's rebranding as she wasn't as popular in the group so she'll be focusing on the sound of her songs now she works with a solo career.
TIER: AA
-- Taemin: This I am more sure about. While he's managed to keep the vast amount of his improvement, Taemin is now going for a very stylistic approach especially with his newer songs. More squeezed and less proper than before. He was rivalling Jonghyun and Yesung at his peak but now he has seemed to settle down and find a style he likes. I'm kinda sad but he seems much more into the sound here.
TIER: AA
-- Lovelyz's Jin: Yeah...Lovelyz has 3 main vocals however Kei is the strongest, and while I liked her Sixth Sense performance the most, she really is lacking in her terms of technique, and she reminds me of Gfriend vocalists, and I think she's never had training.
TIER: W-A?
-- Honorable mentions: a few of Gfriend (none really improved besides Umji (W) though), Seunghee (A-AA), Hyerin(A)
POTENTIAL:
-- Weekly's Soeun: I have high hopes for her. She's a pretty strong lead vocalist and she's seeming to be able to grasp some fundamentals of support. Now groups don't have many vocalists that can support so I am hoping for an improvement.
TIER: A? Possibly strong W-A
-- CRAXY's Swan: Very impressed through her skills in her songs. She's probably a stronger average, and I have some hope she will do well in the future. If you have not heard of them, I like the sound of their songs! She's had a nice sense of technique shown.
TIER: A
-- Purple Kiss's Swan: Now this is maybe hopeful thinking and especially as my bias in Purple Kiss, but she has a good sense of musicality but not much technique. She really reminds me of Bom, before she debuted in 2ne1 and early debut. (Cute!) She has a decent mix so I am hoping for her to improve on her very noticable technique gaps.
TIER: W-A
-- ITZY's Lia: The only vocalist that has shown any signs of support in her voice, I think she has the ability to improve on her stability, mix and pitch. Severely underrated by many casual people. I wonder if she will further develop her low voice and work with stamina.
TIER: W-A
WORRYING:
-- Stayc's Sieun. None of STAYC have ever learned technique. When they are with Black Eyed Pil- I doubt they will learn. I am worried for the straining they are making all their vocalists do. It is actually okay to have less technique however STAYC either do not know or are told to ignore the amount of damage they can do to their voice. I actually like that they have practiced, and they have a lot, as no way they would be able to pull it off without practicing. It's really admirable. I am worried she will develop vocal nodules in a few years as she has to hit the high notes. I have been watching STAYC for some time and are hoping someone will stop and tell them, especially since they are showing a lot of enthusiasm with music and would improve much more. STAYC always reminds me of 9muses.
TIER: W
-- Dreamcatcher's Siyeon: An example of someone with natural vocal talent but has never actually learned technique, especially with her company. She hasn't shown much technical ability (which is pretty okay in rock singing but the hybrid style is worrying for me) however can land stunningly high notes. I am worried again about the strain she uses to sing, especially in their songs like Boca. I am hoping she can rest her voice and hopefully it will not have an impact on her voice.
TIER: :,(
-- ATEEZ's Jongho: I finally acknowledge the males exist. He's not bad! But he's STRAINING so much because of the songs, I am really confused on why they are doing that and how they do not realize it will hurt him. He's actually good and the strongest in 4th gen (granted that's not much) but instead of helping him advance, ATEEZ's songs are making him struggle. I want them to at least ease it a bit for him, so he can relax and then possibly have a chance to develop.
TIER: W- A or low A
-- TXT's Taehyun: Who told him to growl? I really like him but that's like a really bad thing for his voice...I'm also not that happy with Beomgyu's development (actually not really any development sorry) and what they're telling him to sing. I really want them to fight their producer. Not as scary as the Fake Love problem but not great either.
TIER: W
( I have hopes for Keenho from PHarmony to improve but he's still at a W level for now)